The Economic - Construction Investment Management Department (Ministry of Construction) received a Petition reflecting citizen V.T. A's petition regarding Decree No. 217/2026/ND-CP detailing a number of articles of the Construction Law on construction activity management.
According to the proposed content, currently citizens are studying and applying the 2025 Construction Law and Decree No. 217/2026/ND-CP, effective from July 1, 2026.
During the process of carrying out procedures for issuing construction permits, citizens said that problems arose regarding the understanding of the authority of officials handling dossiers. Citizens request the Ministry of Construction to answer the following content:
According to legal regulations, licensing officials are responsible for checking the "legitimacy" of the dossier. However, if during the process of acceptance, the official discovers that the design drawing in the licensing dossier has content violating the National Technical Regulation on Fire Safety (e.g. QCVN 06), or does not match the drawing that has been appraised by the Fire Prevention and Fighting agency before, does the licensing official have the right and responsibility to request the investor to amend it or not? Or is the official only allowed to check the presence of paper items?
Regarding legal basis, citizens cited Article 44 of the 2025 Construction Law, which stipulates that one of the conditions for issuing a construction permit is that the construction design must "fully implement regulations on environmental protection, fire prevention and fighting".
Article 45 of the 2025 Construction Law stipulates that the licensing agency is responsible for "checking the validity of the construction permit application dossier".
Clause 2, Article 54 of Decree No. 217/2026/ND-CP stipulates that when appraising dossiers, the construction permitting agency must identify documents "not in accordance with regulations or not in accordance with reality" to notify the investor once for supplementation and completion.
Clause 6, Article 54 of Decree No. 217/2026/ND-CP stipulates that the licensing agency must "Comparize the conformity of the construction design drawing in the permit application dossier with the design dossier... that has been appraised or fire prevention and fighting design appraisal" and "Check the completeness and validity of the Appraisal Result Report".
From the above bases, citizens sent 3 questions to the Ministry of Construction.
1. Does the phrase "documents not in accordance with regulations" at point b, clause 2, Article 54 of Decree 217/2026/ND-CP include design violations of technical indicators in the Fire Prevention and Fighting Standard or deviations from the fire prevention and fighting appraisal results that have been issued?
Regarding this content, the Economic - Construction Investment Management Department said that, according to the provisions of Clause 3, Article 5 of the 2025 Construction Law, "Compliance with technical regulations and standards applied in construction activities" is one of the basic principles in construction activities.
2. In case the officer handling the case discovers technical errors in fire prevention and fighting (even if the dossier has sufficient documents), is the licensing agency allowed to refuse to issue a license or request amendments to the dossier based on the provisions of Article 44 of the 2025 Construction Law on licensing conditions?
The Economic - Construction Investment Management Department said that, according to the provisions of point b, clause 2, Article 54 of Decree 217/2026/ND-CP, the construction permit issuance process states as follows: "When appraising dossiers, competent authorities must identify missing documents, documents that are not in accordance with regulations or not in accordance with reality to notify once by email or text message to organizations and individuals requesting construction permits or adjusting construction permits to supplement and complete dossiers (if any).
Within 2 working days from the date of receipt of the notice, organizations and individuals requesting the issuance of a construction permit or adjustment of the construction permit are responsible for supplementing and completing the dossier according to the content of the notice. In case the supplementation of the dossier does not meet the contents according to the notice, within 1 working day, the competent authority is responsible for notifying the investor of the reason for not issuing the permit. Organizations and individuals requesting the issuance of a permit shall re-implement the process of requesting the issuance of a construction permit or adjustment of the construction permit".
3. How will the scope of responsibility for compensation for damages of the person with the authority to issue a construction permit specified in Article 45 of the 2025 Construction Law be determined if the permit is issued for a dossier with errors in fire safety standards that the handled officer has overlooked during the validity inspection process?
Regarding this issue, the Economic - Construction Investment Management Department said that the State's compensation responsibility has been specifically stipulated in Law No. 10/2017/QH14 promulgated by the National Assembly on June 20, 2017. We request you, Citizens, to study and apply it to each specific case.
